• Sunday, June 23, 2024
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Nigeria suffers another power grid collapse, as labour begins strike over minimum wage

National grid collapse: Time to act with grace

Nigeria has been thrown into darkness again after the nation power grid collapsed early Monday.

Officials of the sector said the grid collapsed at exactly 1:47am Monday.

It is probably related to the threat the Nigeria Labour Congress to commence an indefinite workers strike Monday to push demand for a new national minimum wage.

Last night the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi faulted the organised labour over the nationwide strike it began Monday.

Fagbemi, in a letter to the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress leaders, dated June 1, 2024, insisted that the strike over the new minimum was a violation of a subsisting National Industrial Court order restraining the unions from grounding the nation through the strike action.

The AGF said this as a meeting convened by the National Assembly leaders on Sunday night failed to achieve its objective following the NLC and TUC’s insistence on going ahead with today’s strike.

The meeting, which was presided over by the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, was attended by the NLC president Joe Ajaero, and his TUC counterpart, Festus Osifo.

Also, the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, affirmed that the government could not pay more than N60,000, which she said represented a 100 per cent increase on the current minimum wage.

On Sunday, Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, told The PUNCH that the labour leaders might have an ulterior motive, stressing that the minimum wage offer they presented was unrealistic for both the federal and state governments.